The auguries are mixed. Previous efforts, such as Kyoto in 1997 and Copenhagen in 2009, have either failed to achieve their ultimate goal, or ended in acrimony. Talks that have now lasted the best part of two decades are still stuck on some fundamental issues. Who cuts? Who pays? Whose fault is climate change?

With negotiations on ice, temperatures outside and the levels of carbon dioxide, the main cause of climate change, are on an upward trajectory.A recent report from the UN’s IPCC climate science panel said CO2 emissions need to be halved by 2050 to have a chance of avoiding temperature rises of 2-4C by 2100.

So it comes as a surprise to find the UN’s number two climate change official, a Canadian called Richard Kinley, surprisingly chipper in his new office, a former German Parliament building in Bonn, now coated with solar panels.

Available at: http://www.rtcc.org/2014/05/05/un-climate-veteran-confident-2015-summit-wont-echo-copenhagen/